Parliamentary elections set for September 23

Alyaksandr Lukashenka announced at a government conference on
Monday that September 23 would be the main voting day in this year's
elections for the House of Representatives.

The central election commission will hold a meeting
in Minsk on June 19 to discuss preparations for September's elections
and adopt regulations governing election districts, explanations
regarding the procedure of the elections and schedules for the elections
for the House of Representatives and the Council of the Republic.

Speaking at a meeting with Lidziya Yarmoshyna, head
of the central election commission, earlier this month, Mr. Lukashenka
stressed that the elections should be held openly, freely and on a
competitive basis. “I still believe that this year we should not change
ourselves to please someone. You’ve already concluded from our previous
similar events that we won’t get appreciation from anyone. And we don’t
need appreciation from anyone. We should be guided by our own
regulations and constitution. We conduct parliamentary and other
elections for ourselves, for our state, and it is the people who should
decide who should work in our parliament on a fair and competitive
basis.”

Belarus’ electoral regulations will not be changed
before the elections because, firstly, it is too late to do that and
because the OSCE recommends refraining from making any changes during
the year preceding an election, Ms. Yarmoshyna said.

She noted that parliamentary candidates would for the
first time have the opportunity to take part in television and radio
debates.

Opposition forces are ready for September's parliamentary elections, politicians said on Monday. When reached by BelaPAN,
Alyaksey Yanukevich, leader of the Belarusian Popular Front, said that
the party had been preparing to nominate members for district and
territorial election commissions and put forward contenders for seats in
the lower parliamentary chamber. The BPF's central office is finalizing
campaign material and tutorials for activists who will be involved in
the elections, he said. BPF parliamentary contenders will be nominated
at the party's convention later in the summer.

Andrey Dzmitryyew, deputy chairperson of the "Tell
the Truth!" movement, and Lew Marholin, deputy chairperson of the United
Civic Party, noted that the organizations had already drawn up lists of
their parliamentary nominees.

Vital Rymashewski, a co-chairperson of Belarusian
Christian Democracy, said that the party was ready for a boycott of the
coming elections. The party's activists in all of the country's regions
plan to hold an active campaign to discourage voters from going to the
polls, he said.

Alyaksandr Atroshchankaw, a coordinator of European
Belarus, noted that the opposition group would also boycott the
elections. "We see that people view the elections not even as a stage
set but as some funeral rite. A boycott of the parliamentary elections
is only part of a campaign of a general boycott of the dictatorial
regime, which will be based on popular support," he said.

Valyantsin Stefanovich, who is a leader of a group
called "Human Rights Defenders for Fair Elections," said that the group
was already gearing up for organizing the observation of September's
elections. He said that the group would field roughly 50 long-term
observers, while more observers would monitor the voting at polling
stations.

"We are not aiming to cover as many polling stations
as possible," Mr. Stefanovich said. "It makes sense only when observers
do have an opportunity to prevent vote rigging and somehow influence the
course of the electoral process, so that it would be held in compliance
with laws. Unfortunately, this is de facto impossible in our country."

Mr. Stefanovich said that long-term observers would
focus on recording instances of authorities compelling people to cast
ballots in the elections. With so many opposition forces calling for a
boycott of the elections, authorities will likely seek to secure high
voter turnout, the activist predicted.